My wife took two of our grandchildren to see the newly released kids movie, "How to Train Your Dragon." The movie is in 3-D at select theaters but this one did not have 3-D technology. One grandchild asked the owner in the lobby if the movie is in 3-D and he went off for ten minutes telling them that watching movies in 3-D is bad for their eyes. This is a case in point for how people can justify whatever brings them money, power, or sex. Of course he thinks that. Why? Because his movie theater does not have that technology. Get it? Just imagine what he would think if he had that technology! Then he would change his tune. My contention is that Christians feel empowered by their faith. After all, they actually think God is their helper in times of need, and that they will see him and their loved ones when they die. So of course they'll defend their beliefs just like this theater owner does. One would think that precisely because believers prefer their faith to be true they should be skeptical of it, but no, they don't see this. Maybe they can learn something as outsiders listening in to that theater owner and get the point. But then probably not.

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Here are two explanations by mature Christians on how to know God’s will for your life.

The first is from a Christian missionary's new letter from the field. Sure he and his fellow Christians know there is a God, that God works in the lives of His children; but just what in the hell does this statement mean other than fate?

What looks impossible to us is possible with God, if it is His Will.

This second example was taken from the March issue of the Collegian (A weekly campus student e-news at Bob Jones University.)

Please read this so-called proof of how God directs His Christian children's lives in just what He wants them to do.

Again, please tell me just how the hell a Christian would know The Will of God in their life over any Atheist doing the same thing in this rambling statement?

(Oh yes, please notice the number of times the writer says: “God may allow …” or “He may allow things to happen…”. Only to then close with the profound phase: “…will you question God…”. Yes, and I wonder why one would question any so-called concept of God's will in their life!!!)

God may allow you to work a job you think you’ll love for the purpose of showing you that you’re supposed to work somewhere else, that He has something even greater in store for you. He may allow things to happen in your life that completely change any plans you made for your future. When the unexpected occurs, will you question God, or humbly submit to His plan?

Let me quickly summarize the two Christian statements in my comment above and just how the Christian God not only directs the lives of all atheists, but also the lives of all non-Christian religious people too.

It’s so simple to prove this:

A. Be optimistic about life! Everything happens for the best; accept it!

B. Learn to call fate God or God’s Will and then accept whatever happens to you just as the 1980’s song by Bobby McFerrin goes: Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

C. For Christians, look for ways to prove God. For example, if you are worried about your finances and you find a quarter on the ground, take advantage of this fate to prove God exists and He especially cares for you!

Now get out there all you Christians, atheists and any other world religion, Fate or God has got your back. (Hell, who needs salvation!)

I hate it when people lie to cover up their inadequacies or mistakes. Why didn't the theatre manager just say "Unfotunately at this time, we don'r have 3D capability, but it's coming soon".

"God may allow you to work a job you think you’ll love for the purpose of showing you that you’re supposed to work somewhere else"

So you have no "free will" to decide which job to take? It is all God's plan? Why do we try to achieve any success in this world? We should just all give up now and say "God will provide".Attributing bad things that happen as "God's will" is a great excuse for negative thinking, and not taking responsiblity for your actions.

A preacher was visiting a farm and said to the farmer, "God's been mighty good to your fields, Mr. Farmer." "Yes," the Farmer replied, "But you should have seen how He treated them when I wasn't around."

I have an interesting retort to those who deny they believe this or that only to satisfy their own whims. What we ultimately want to believe need not necessarily be what makes us feel best. Generally, there are two classes of people which choose not to believe positively concerning questionable or uncertain matters. Firstly, pessimists identify with negativity. As such, they want to believe the opposite of what would in all likelihood make them feel best. In this way, they want to believe in the worst case scenario. For those more acute and discerning, perhaps a semantic argument can be raised. It could probably be supposed that pessimists by definition feel best with negativity and therefore, the worst case scenario is what makes them feel best, much to the bewilderment of non-pessimists. Secondly, there are still others which choose to believe what does not make them feel best simply as a means to convince themselves or offer themselves the illusion, unconscious though it may be, that they are not trying to ascertain truth merely by choosing what THEY LIKE. In this way, they can not be accused, even by themselves, of picking and choosing “truth” commensurate with that which offers the greatest tangible and intangible benefits to themselves and/or the group(s) they most identify with.

Brad: "sell books"My understanding is that John became an atheisst THEN wrote books about it. Rather than writing a book and selling it by 'believing' it. Try to be accurate, rather than rude."slandering and mischaracterizing"In what manner? One of the outstanding features of this site is that it reveals accurate information about what the Bible says and how it came to say that and it reveals accurate information about what Christians actually believe. It also accurately characterizes Christianity as the human-created myth system it is, just like all other religions. "battle tested beliefs of Christianity"As in people who fought to force their beliefs on others? Or do you mean time tested? At any rate, the testing of those Christian beliefs FAILS for far more people in the world who have chosen other religions or none at all. Even within Christianity, each denomination has 'tested' the beliefs of all others and rejected tham for their own. A truth based system would result in commonality of facts as the system is tested. Christianity fails testing as over time more and more variants of it arise as Christians themselves reject the version they have been taught for another, while as they are accepting that one, others are simultaneously rejecting it for others. As an example from science, there were a number of 'beliefs' about what the particles of matter were like, and as technology allowed greater detail in looking at them, some beliefs fell away as inaccurate and others stood the testing. "Beliefs' about the nature of the particles converged as testing revealed their true nature. There is not and never has been any convergence on any sort of Christian 'truth' or any other religious truth, thus religion fails all testing. And it does so right here on this site daily, thank you, John and sane commentors!

just to mention that all christians are sceptical about their faith. it's just not considered good form to tell that to everyone else. Personally I agree that, in an age of uncertainty, this might be counter-intuitive.

Evolutionary Thinker wrote this antedote, "A preacher was visiting a farm and said to the farmer, "God's been mighty good to your fields, Mr. Farmer." "Yes," the Farmer replied, "But you should have seen how He treated them when I wasn't around."

This is exemplifies the thinking of one who believes God doesn't think it is good to share in working -- the attitude here is that if God doesn't eliminate anything that brings a challenge to us, then He doesn't exist. But, by faith, work and exercising one's talent through work, can bring meaning and value to life.

I know this was definitely true for me when I was a "Religious Son Of Hell" (Evangelical Christian). I would try to convince myself that I was right about what I believed by only reading "Son of Hell" material and rejecting all other material as cultic or heresy, etc. etc...